Decorative laminates have been produced commercially in the United States and other countries of the world for a substantial plurality of years. These decorative laminates contain a plurality of layers that are impregnated with thermosetting resins and are heat and pressure consolidated together to form a unitary structure. The surface sheet is a decorative sheet which is sometimes referred to as a decor sheet which may be a solid color such as a white or a pastel or it may carry a decorative design thereon such as a wood-grain print, floral designs or geometric figures, and the like. The decorative sheet is first impregnated with a noble thermosetting resin which resin is recognized in the laminate industry as one which does not undergo any significant color deterioration during the heat and pressure consolidation step. The thermosetting resin in the decor sheet is converted to the thermoset state during the heat and pressure consolidation step. The decorative sheet containing the noble thermosetting resin, which is preferably a melamine-formaldehyde resin, is then superimposed over one or more core sheets which are generally the kraft paper sheets that have been impregnated with a thermosetting phenol-formaldehyde resin. As before, the thermosetting phenolic resin is converted to the thermoset state during the heat and pressure consolidation step. The number of core sheets used in the laminate may be varied substantially depending on the thickness of the laminate ultimately desired. When extremely thin laminates are desired only one or two core sheets are used. On the other hand, it is frequently desired to make laminates that are one thirty-second inch, one-sixteenth inch or one-eighth inch in thickness; or if desired, they may be made in even greater thicknesses. Accordingly, the thicker laminates require the use of the total number of core sheets varying between about three, five, seven, nine or more. If desired and particularly when the decorative sheet is a printed design, one may superimpose over the decorative sheet an unpigmented overlay sheet which is generally a fine quality alpha-cellulose paper sheet impregnated with a noble thermosetting resin preferably of the same type that is used to impregnate the decorative sheet. After the heat and pressure consolidation step is completed, the overlay sheet becomes transparentized during the consolidation operation so that the decorative sheet can readily be seen through the overlay sheet. Some other protective overlay sheets have been used such as films of polyester resins and films of polyvinyl fluoride and the like. Most of these decorative laminates have found extensive use as horizontal and vertical decorative panels for furniture, kitchen countertops, vanitories, wall siding and the like, by bonding or veneering the laminate with an adhesive material to a rigid support such as particle board or plywood and then fabricating or machining the edges of the veneered assembly with tools common to the wood working industry such as saws, drills, shapers and routers. These tools are generally made of steel, although certain of them, especially those having knife blades are composed of tungsten carbide because the steel tools will show a wear rate much faster than would be expected when compared with the wear rate of the tungsten carbide. When these tools are used to fabricate or machine the edges of the veneered assembly containing the decorative laminate, the operation must be stopped when any significant chipping is observed which indicates that the blade has suffered some significant wear which requires that the blades and other cutting edges be resharpened so as to remove the worn edge.